i agree with dux-r-us, bring the gauge.i love huntin the thick stuff with the shotgun.even if we hunt a feild, they ususally come in close.here we cant use anything bigger than no. 4 lead, or no. 2 no tox.but 1.5 oz of 4 shot in the grill stops em just fine at reasonable distances.(40 yards or so with x-full choke)

You really have to watch your wind with a .17. We use them in West TX occasionally but not often due to how much even a breath of wind effects the flight. I bought a .223 last year and it is great for varmints. I have taken a few pigs and one deer with it also. I also use my .270 but only when I am deer hunting and I see a vermin.

I have that same savage 12bvss in .223 I love mine to have got a lot of dogs out hear in cal with it.

FMFdevildoc wrote:.223 / .243 / .22-250 = all excellent rounds

So is .222 and all the other fast variants & wild cat rounds in that range - I even used my 5.45x39 AK to drop a dog before with excellent results.

Then again, if you can call them in close enough (50-75 yards) a 3in / 3.5 in "T" shot is $$ MONEY $$ For years, my favorite was #4 buckshot (copper plated lead - 54 pellet 3 inchers) yet I have had "T" shot in 3in. persuasion break skin / penetrate out to 75+ yards. So a shot gun works too... a really fun set up is one guy with a center fire and 2nd guy with a scatter gun. Lots of guys do that, so I am sure I ain't telling you anything you dont know.

I LOVE my Savage model 12BVSS; they make several variants and I couldn't say enough about the accuracy and quality. I hunted the hell out of coyotes, prairie dogs, foxes - etc. with this .223 bolt in New Mexico / Colorado and always enjoyed shooting it, the .223 in 55grain VMAX always delivered deadly results with mentionable accuracy.